It may have been Armagh men's first home game for 3 years, but they came out second best against a determined Donegal side in the semi final of the Interzone.
The home side trailed by 2 shots at the break with Alan Roberts' 13-4 win cancelled out by 11-10 and 15-5 defeats to Aidan Corrigan and Joe Beattie respectively. Armagh came out of the blocks quickly in the second half and were soon in front, but Donegal pegged them back in what was turning out to be an excellent game. Marty Trainor drew his came 10-10 and with the 2 Andrews (Leckey and Hughes) playing their last ends Armagh were 6 down. In an exciting finale Hughes lay 5 and Leckey lay 1 which would have tied the game, but excellent last bowls by Andrew Steele and John Quinn secured 2nd shot against Hughes and shot against Leckey respectively to see Donegal through to their second final in 3 years. Northern will be their opposition but if they keep up their recent form they will be hard to beat.
Rink scores were as follows:
A Corrigan 10 v PJ Gallagher 11
A Roberts 13 v P McGee 4
J Beattie 5 v D McClintock 15
A Leckey 8 v J Quinn 13
M Trainor 10 v E Curran 10
A Hughes 6 v A Steele 6
Final score: Armagh 52 Donegal 59
It's now left up to the Ladies to carry the Armagh flag in their final, ironically against Donegal.
